It's now on to the Board of Supervisors for Chevy Chase Bank. It hopes to open a new branch in Chantilly, and on Dec. 1 its proposal received a unanimous approval from the Fairfax County Planning Commission.
The site the bank has in mind is at Walney Road and Route 50, where a small building housing Scott's Turf Builder is currently located. One of the two existing entrances into that property from Route 50 would be closed and there would be interparcel access between the bank and the adjacent shopping center.
Someday when there's enough money to build it, that intersection is planned for a grade-separated interchange, so the bank is dedicating 35 feet of Route 50 frontage for it. But until then, it will use that land for nine, bank parking spaces.
Sully District Planning Commissioner Ron Koch said he was pleased that the county got the right-of-way dedication from the bank. That way, he said, when the time comes, it will already have the needed property on that corner.
Besides that, he added, "It's an application that will clean up a site that's kind of unsightly. And I think the design of the building will be like the one [Chevy Chase] did by the Burger King [on Old Centreville Road] which is a pretty-nicely designed building."
The new bank is expected to be about 3,200 square feet. But before plans can proceed, Chevy Chase must obtain a special-exception permit from the county for its drive-through window. Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully) said last week that the case won't go before the supervisors until after the first of the year.
<tgl> — Bonnie Hobbs